‘The Mindy Project’ Cheers Rhea Perlman to the Show

The Mindy Project returns for its 3rd season September 16th with an exciting new guest star!

Rhea Perlman (Cheers) is going to have a recurring role as Annette Castellano, Danny Costellano’s (Chris Messina) mother.

Earlier at the summer TV press tour, when Mindy Kaling first hinted at who would possibly play Danny’s mom, she said that they would be “someone who’s a source of conflict for my character.”

“The wonderful thing about the character is the trope of the mother-in-law-type figure who doesn’t like the girl,” Mindy told reporters after revealing that Rhea Perlman would be joining the cast.

While Mindy has been studying other Rom-Com Sitcoms such as Modern Family and Everybody Loves Raymond, she wants to make sure that The Mindy Project stays fresh and unique.

She acknowledges that the judgy mother-in-law has been done before, so she posed the question, “How do we do a new spin on this?”

The third episode is going to be called ‘Annette Castellano Is My Nemesis,’ which Mindy says is really ‘dead-on.’

Mindy has already given a lot of insight into hers and Danny’s relationship in the third season. The first episode is fittingly titled “We’re A Couple Now, B*tches.”

She explained that as his girlfriend, Mindy’s going to be getting Danny into all sorts of trouble. She compares their dynamic to that of Lucy and Ricky.

Now that Mindy Lahiri is going to be paired up, “Peter (Adam Pally) becomes kind of the new Mindy in terms of who he’s dating and him wanting to become a better person and him getting his heart broken,” Mindy explains.

The Mindy Project has received modest ratings during its first two seasons, but Fox CEO and Chairman Peter Rice has been rooting for the show, saying “I love The Mindy Project … I hope that it finds an audience.”

Hopefully the new addition of Rhea Perlman will create a winning formula for the cast and help garner the attention that The Mindy Project deserves.

Do you think Rhea Perlman makes a good mom for Danny and a good nemesis for Mindy?